Topic: Bremerton

Ray Garrido has lived in Kitsap County for 35 years. He attended The 99 Spring training to bring attention to foreclosure and deportation issues in his hometown. (Photo by Alex Stonehill/UW Election Eye)

As the summer months approach, Occupy Wall Street is reemerging from its winter hibernation. But we shouldn’t expect the same beast. Tired of chaos, activists in Bremerton are re-organizing the movement to appear as tamer, wiser and more localized.

BREMERTON, Wash. — “We’re going to figure out what to do instead of sit here with our feelings,” Jo Walter announced to the 20 or so people gathered inside Kitsap Unitarian Church on April 14. The group had sacrificed a sunny Saturday morning in favor of attending “The 99% Spring” non-violent action training and Walter, an Occupy Bremerton member, was facilitating the assembly.

Owners Tracey and Andre Jones outside Tracey's Barber Shop in Bremerton on April 14, 2012. She is a Democrat, he is a libertarian. (Photo by Alex Stonehill/UW Election Eye)

Just feet apart physically, but on opposite ends of the political spectrum, two barbers in Bremerton have no qualms about voicing their opinions on the presidential candidates and the state of the economy in their community.

BREMERTON — In the Manette neighborhood of this military town, only a few feet separate the shops of barber Andre Jones, a black 46-year old whose wife Tracey founded their shop 10 years ago, and hairstylist Sariann Irvin — a white 29-year-old who met her husband when he roamed in one day from the Navy base.